Is it safe to plant my runners beans outside?

Hi,

I live on Dartmoor. I have been growing runners beans inside for 1+ months and Im keen to get them in the ground as theyre getting big!

Can I assume all risk of nightime frost is over? Seems a ridiculous question to ask considering the last few days of baking sun we've had! But I thought id better ask in case

I also have crown prince squash thats needs to go in the ground. WOuld this be safe to plant now in my raised beds?

Thanks

 

I live near Eden and haven't even sown my runner beans! I don't usually plant my runner beans out until May. They are very tender jungle plants so will not tolerate cold wind, rain or frosts. Because they are such a problem to keep going if sown early I wait. Especially this year with the low light levels and cold wet conditions, although runners do love lots of water once outside.Maybe I am over cautious.
I dig a pit and put my kitchen waste, plus some farmyard manure, into it, cover with soil and plant my runner beans around the edge of the pit. I also sink a large flower pot in the middle of the pit to water into to encourage roots to go down. I have to build a Fort Knox structure with bracing all round to avoid the canes and plants being blown over as my garden is exposed to the incoming gales.

 

Are you hardening them off, if not you should be really as planting outside straight from a life indoors often doesn't work well.
Put them outside in a sheltered position in partially shade and bring back in should the weather turn nasty.
You need to do that for a couple of weeks before planting.

 

@Tufty This may be of interest/use United Kingdom Interactive Average Last Frost Date Map
Mine got planted yesterday as did the french beans, seed was chitted indoors and then germinating ones planted into root trainers at end of April, in cold greenhouse. They got hardened off last week and are currently getting rained on. They are in a trench lined with newspaper, garden compost with a leaky pipe in the compost and then a layer of soil.
My squashes have just come out the propagator and some have been pottted up in the greenhouse, these will be hardened off and go in the ground early to Mid June.

 

Planted out French and runner last week with fleece around the cane wigwam for a couple of days until established. Some of the plants were over 40cm and much more would have made it difficult to plant without damage. I did have them in the shed window for a few days to harden off. They have all took hold on the canes and are already putting on a lot of growth (10-20cm). Not too much slug damage to report after yesterdays rain. Slugs and snails being my main reason for planting indoors and getting height on them before planting out. This has worked with great success in the last 2-3 seasons.
It would be interesting to know how others support their beans? I've read here of a few with metal structure's, seen Monty and his hazel wigwams and wonder if others have more ways? I'm not too happy with the cane wigwam, but more for the lack of space they provide as everything ends up clustered at the top. I use x3 canes per post for strength, tie the four posts at the top into a wigwam and straddle the x3 wigwams I have with top 2-3 canes.

 

Ours seem happy outside on the allotment. They have gone in early because I had time and have made the mistake of letting them get to leggy in the past, which doesn't go well. I would have preferred them to go in a little later but it's an exposed sunny site and they seem to do better earlier, otherwise the wind and strong sun burns the leaves and knocks them back.

 

@DiggersJo ours grow up an old mattress. We cut the top and bottom springs off so we have a 6ft high trellis that has a nice pattern of circles throughout. It's funny because quite a few people have admired it and asked where we got it.
It's down the allotment but has a rusty industrial charm I suppose.

 

Thanks all!

Regards hardening off: Ive been bring them in at night; but theyve been out all day every day for a month. Does that count as hardening off?

Look at that Last Frost Date calendar, my average last frost is about April 20. So I shoudl be safe to put them out in the veg beds.

 

I live in an exposed place and wind is my biggest problem with newly planted outside beans. I use a homemade portable fence of a double layer of cargo netting around my beans. Once they get above the fence (it’s about a metre high), they’ve toughened up a bit and can resist more wind. I would plant them out now, but harden them off first. You can check the last frost date for your area online easily enough, just to reassure yourself.

 

Hardening off changes the plant as it's no longer growing in controlled conditions and is subjected to the great outdoors. It needs a couple of weeks as the leaves change due to the different humidity and air factors that we can't control outside and essentially the plant becomes tougher and able to withstand more extremes. The one downside is that plants are still vulnerable to the cold so I only plant them when I'm reasonably confident that the last cold weather has happened, which for most of us should be now.

Leaving it outside during the day is good and will work but if the spot you want to plant them is more exposed it can be beneficial to leave them somewhere sheltered over night for a few days first.

 

That's a lot of beans @shiney ! It might be the way to go, but perhaps next year. Still I may partly copy the cat's cradle bit to take our beans over to the next bed (garlic which will be cleared by then). Thanks.